BANGKOK, (Reuters) – The founder of Thailand’s  “yellow shirt” protest movement, which was behind the week-long  occupation of Bangkok’s main airports late last year, was shot  and wounded yesterday, a spokesman for his movement said.

The car of Sondhi Limthongkul was attacked in a petrol  station near the central bank around 5 a.m (2200 GMT on  Thursday), a spokesman for his People’s Alliance for Democracy  (PAD) told Reuters.

The PAD was not part of the latest political violence in  Thailand over the past week, which involved the red-shirted  supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister  ousted in a coup in 2006 and now living in self-imposed exile.

The PAD is an extra-parliamentary group of royalists,  academics, former military people and Bangkok’s middle classes  united in their loathing of Thaksin, a former telecoms  billionaire who draws his support from the rural poor.

PAD spokesman Panthep Puapongpan said a driver and  bodyguard were also in Sondhi’s car. All three were wounded,  the driver seriously. He said the attack was carried out by two gunmen, who drove  into the petrol station, shot out the tyres of Sondhi’s car and  then riddled the vehicle with bullets.

Sondhi founded the PAD in 2005 after falling out with  Thaksin, who used to be a business associate.

A state of emergency is in effect in Bangkok after violent  anti-government protests this week in which two people were  killed.

The protests ended on Tuesday when the “red shirts” who had  been occupying the grounds of Government House since March 26  surrendered to the hundreds of troops surrounding the building,  the main office of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Abhisit extended the three-day Thai new year holiday until  the end of the week to help the authorities restore law and  order and repair infrastructure damaged in the protests,  especially at key road junctions.